Mowgli1647545497

I meant percentages as in the % of the car built inside US borders, etc. But I agree, the DESIGN and costs need to come in line as well (costs from materials and workers). But this plant manager can't control any of that. He runs his plant. Pride needs to go up across the board. Here's his stab at upping pride in their work at his plant. The designers also need something to bite their butts, but I don't think its all their fault. As Bill Ford said its a whole culture change that needs to happen at Ford (and at GM imo too) - he said they build cars to fill capacity for production. So they take no risks, because any risks puts at risk a giant production run of 100s of thousands of cars over at least a decade. So ever design gets watered down until its bland. And materials get cheapened down because the frigging pensions and wages suck up so much % that they can't afford to buy high end materials to put in the cars. So the products... suck. They need to quick thinking in terms of massive production runs. They need to think in terms of products people will buy, faster product cycles (Japanese cycle new car models twice or three times as fast as domestics, hell GM and Ford try to keep a car platform alive for 20yrs). They need to take chances, increase quality material use, bring a dose of reality to line workers on what they get paid vs what they do (hanging car doors isn't rocket science - why should they get paid a rocket scientist's salary?), and they need to increase pride in thier work. Here's one step for that last item by one plant manager. And Bill Ford said: "You know what? We're not going to sell a bazillion cars anymore. It ain't going to happen. And continuing to go along with our heads up our asses and think in those terms isn't going to solve anything. So you know what? Fuk it - we don't need em, we can't fill em, and we sure as heck can't afford em, so I'm closing these xyz plants." Maybe NOW they can break their old habit and realize its about the flipping product and not about filling some Dearborn plant's build capacity churning out junk nobody but blind loyalists want just to continue to overpay a bunch of workers who don't even have enough pride in what they do to buy the damn cars they get paid highway robbery to make.

Which brings us back to the original post. American automotive products need to be better. They just do. End of debate. Its not about loyalty or percentages or suppliers. The end product needs to be better. This plant manager is at least taking a real step over at least the part in the giant chain from start to finish that he has some control over at least to try to up that quality. Kudos, plant manager.

I'll take that bet. Bill Ford is cut along the same lines as Lutz over at GM. He's not full of sh!t. Neither one of them can help that they've got to fight monolithic corporations with decades of craptastic practices ingrained in their cultures. Not their fault. I wish both Bill Ford and Lutz best of luck in their battles.

Because at Honda their people knew they were building good products. Chicken or the egg, doesn't matter what comes first. "You want to buy the good products that you're making, because the product rocks and you're proud of it? Buy a Ford." But this isn't where Ford is right now. Its actually: "Do you want to park in the plant lot - buy a Ford. Oh you don't like what Ford offers? Don't want to buy what you make? Then BUILD A BETTER FUKKING CAR!" But believe it or not Espirit d' Corps can grow from odd, seemingly harsh births like this. My hats off to this plant manager. Nice to see somebody taking it serious. ---------- Besides: If you were working there odds are you wouldn't want to look for another job because no other industry rewards asshat lazy hicks with big paychecks like the domestic automotive manufacturing business does.

you'd be wrong. Bill Ford drives a GT. IMO this is only step one - next they need to light a fire under the designers asses and kick the bean counters in the balls. And make EVERYONE wear a ballcap to work at all times that reads: "ITS ABOUT THE PRODUCT, STUPID"

Good move. Makes them put their money where their mouth is. Quoting the interviewed: "You buy what you build" and "need to get our point across this is a serious thing." Damn straight. If you can't be proud of what you're working on and outputting enough to own one yourself then you need to be working somewhere else. Simple as that. Besides the people with sand up their P%ssy can park across the street. U Go, Ford. :thumbsup Lets see some more real steps like this in addition to the usual corporate talk. Same goes for GM. Shitty products and marketshare loss: its a real problem, and passed time to get serious.

This idiocy brought to you by: Arlen Specter. Can you be surprised? How long til we can vote these jackasses out of office? Too long.

Not been around lately, but saw this and thought CR would get a kick out of it. But seriously, this is worth calling attention to: http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-annoyance,+go+to+jail/2010-1028_3-6022491.html Short version: It's illegal to annoy. A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity or face criminal penalty. There ya go. Enjoy the fruits of your federal government at work. Sorry if repost - I'm not really keeping up

This may help. Go here: http://www.sirairsoft.com/pricelist.htm Don't pay too much attention to the prices per say - they're all too high, and are in Canadian dollars, but the general info may be helpful if this is all completely and totally new to you and you're interested. I'd say knock all the dollar values on that page 1/3 off and you'd be near on, and of course you don't need to buy everything.

Some good starting platforms for sniper rifles: H&K PSG1 from Tokyo Marui http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/bin/image-lib/products/32RTMPSG1.jpg http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/product.asp?page=product&id=32RTMPSG1 The VSR 10 G spec also from TM http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/bin/image-lib/products/VSR10TM.jpg http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/product.asp?page=product&id=VSR10TM And the SVD DRAGUNOV - (best looking in my opinion) http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/bin/image-lib/products/SC16.jpg http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/product.asp?page=product&id=SC16 And then the M24 SOCOM: http://www.kapowwe.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/1-2-855_2_small.jpg http://www.kapowwe.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1-2-855&Category_Code=airsoft-sniper-rifles

I was the sole support gunner on the ICNA side. Callsign Hillslam. After Blade (Strikers) made us aware that B.E.A. were the ones to watch out for (in terms of fast manuevering) I could tell when it was your team or TAC. As the only SAW I got shifted around alot. You guys made me tired as a dog - thanks alot! jk - I had a blast. Not sure we talked personally. But I did get to talk to at least one BEA member, I think. Hope to see you out at an event sometime and shake your hand. I went thru more than 9,000 rounds that day. I don't want to know how much that would have cost in paint ammo. Ugh. I plan to try out a helmet cam myself at op Espial Justice.

I think the ratio of milsim to just team-on-team mayhem is higher in airsoft though. In the half year I've been playing airsoft I've only been to 1 non "scenario" event (as you put it). You're right, they are fun. BTW- BlackEagle rocks. I've yet to hear anyone say anything bad about them. Wish I had more time to chat with them at Distant Horizon. Great vids Oscar.

That ruled. Dominos and Sonic ftw

nismo, spln, - yeah I can see that when you get burnt out on something it's tough to return to. But if you're ever interested come on out, the people are great and I think you'll have fun. orion - yeah, it is a total blast. And the people are great so far. Not the least reason is since it relies on the honor system to call hits, you can only get so deep into that competitive mental zone (the place where people's asshat behavior sometimes gets slipped out) before you have to bob back up to reality and remember to play fair. In all the events I've been to there's only been one incident of having to call in a ref. And that was resolved in minutes. That was at an all-day event with over 100 people. So compare that to say football games, in terms of then number of people playing and the time on field, and there's way less fouls and refereeing needed. All guys know how to play this fair - heck we all did it as boys. Oh, spln - if you liked that level of engineering and tinkering in pball, you'd like airsoft too. The guns are essentially electric motors running thru a gear box driving a piston/cylinder arrangement (well there is a bellows system on one of the manufacturers support gun lines, but its unqiue) and so there's all sorts of tinkering you can do to satisfy that craving. Sector gears, bevel gears, tappet plates, the motors themselves, pistons, piston heads, tightbore barrels, bore-up kits, hopup chambers, hopup bucking and sleeves, mechbox bodies and piston nozzles. There's alot of "stuff" you can fidget with if you want. Or you can buy a gun from TM, ICS, or CA and not worry about any of it. I myself spend time tearing the guns down for well I gotta admit, no really good reason. But its fun to tinker. Anyway thats where my time's been going.

Yeah thats pricey. Airsoft 6mm bbs - good brand high quality will run you about $10 for a bag of 4,000 at .2g or $12 for a bag 3,000 at .25g. For $300-$400 you can be completely competitive in airsoft in terms of a weapon, and after that initial investment, the recurring costs are, well, the bbs. Unless you count charging a battery at your house. I didn't think there were any pball events on the scale of those airsoft events hosted by the Army - Colonel Danny (blackhawk down) McKnight and MSG Mullen - at the Army's very own Ft Knox MOUT site, with all the trimmings. Irene I, II, and III: real tanks, APCs, army personel roleplaying indigenous civillians, real machinegun fire (blank rounds, but the noise is bigtime), technicals driving around, real helo crash sites, pyrotechnics, RPGs, etc. From all accounts they are unreal. I'll be there next year - still kicking myself for not working out a way to get free to go last fall.

Hmm, its not showing up in my box. But it may be acting flakey. Now all I have are 15 old stored messages but no new. And the little Welcome box on the top right says I have 1 total. So I'm not sure whats up there. You can email me at hillslam@hotmail.com

Don't know about Paintball Ohio, but I can say the equipment at sportinggoods stores is crap, and since I've never seen PO advertising or mentioned in any of the airsoft venues or sites I'm going to bet they carry the same level of crap airsoft equipment you'd find at DicksportingGoods, etc. Try here: http://www.airsoftsmith.com Or if you want to drive http://www.airsoftarms.com Come to a Strikers or AirsoftArms or 08eu hosted event sometime. I'm sure it changes your mind. Paintball could be fun I won't argue, even with its lower range and accuracy. But for me, when its between this: http://www.docsmachine.com/galleries/ironstand.jpg and this: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-2/944597/My249_smallpic.jpg ? Well, for me, thats sorta like choosing between Sandra Bernhart and Pamela Lee.

I can see where paintball would be fun. Making a mess of your opponent has its draw, I can see that. Heh heh. But come out to an outdoor airsoft event with like 100 participants (the usual ones around here make at least 20 per side easy) and some folks sporting some real hardware and I bet you have a blast. The ones hosted by AirsoftArms, 10ringAirsoft, CombatDepot, Strikers, or the 08eu usually have rental gear available that is not shabby at all.

fps and minimum engagement distances depend on the event host, but in ohio typically they are: (FPS measured with 0.2 gram BBs): 0-350fps (1.14 joules): Full Auto, no minimum engagement distance. 350-399fps (1.48 joules): Full Auto, 25' minimum engagement distance. 400-449fps (1.87 joules): Semi Auto only, 50' minimum engagement distance. 450-500fps (2.32 joules): Semi Auto only, 75' minimum engagemnet distance. These are plastic bb's and only .2g to .3g so with any degree of clothing on it won't hurt. But I've been hit in the face at probably 20yards and it left a welt for a couple days - not sure what fps the gun was but it was hot. Regardless - you hear em hit unless its REALLY noisy. My 249 is noisy... but even so I know when I've been hit unless it gets me in the back of the vest where my camelback is and I'm firing at the same time. Then I might not notice it. There's no joules limit legally in the US, persay, but all events follow the above common table. In the UK there's a 1joule limit, legally. Other places... eh... In Hong Kong and Norway, though, for example - no limit. Those insane people are playing upwards of 600fps and above. At that energy they're embedding in your skin. Ouch. Now to put that in perspective though, a real steel M4A1 Carbine firing your standard nato 5.56 round has a muzzle energy of about 1500joules at 2900fps with a 4.0g round. So - while you MUST have eye protection, it really is a safe sport. Yeah Mojoe I had never heard of airsoft at all until someone else pointed me to it. Its like this whole underground sport plus cottage industry. But once you dig in you'll find its big. Funny too, since its almost entirely under the radar. But in Ohio alone there's at least a dozen dedicated event fields, and there are at least a half dozen national events held annually that are huge.

Fixed - sorry. Forgot you had to register with Arnies to view albums. They're in my villagephoto album now. Not alot of bandwidth, but should be ok.

Honor system. You either feel it or hear it. With a hot gun you FEEL it, catch my drift? You then call it out. And depending on the event rules or what the hosts doing you typically get out your "death rag" (a red rag, like a shop towel, just plop it on your head) and count your time to respawn. Like so: http://www.blackeagleairsoft.net/photos/distanthorizon/uvs051121-030.BMP Typically 5 minutes. Then you hump back to a base and respawn. Unless a medic gets to you first. Depends on the event.

Koolaid - yeah its airsoft. I'm not on a team, but I play with a few at the events. Got invited to go to Irene with Team iP but couldn't due to a prior commitment. Wish I had. Played with Strikers, 6mm, 97th, 08eu, and a couple others. Yet to meet a bunch of guys that weren't good guys and had good sportsmenship. I tried paintball, but I couldn't get into the short ranges, inaccuracy, the mess, the jams, and those wacky looking tipmans. Plus the players just seem more mature. You should come out to some events, I'll bet you'll be a convert. ttemper - Coyotes don't shoot back JK - Droptop's got it: I do it mainly because, well its fun. I did my real shooting in the military, so I'm over that, but if I want to fire off some real rounds I take the garand down to the range. This is for competitive kicks without consequence. You get out in nature, run around, get sweaty and dirty, excercise some teamwork, meet new and interesting people... then shoot them. Usually have a blast. Better than softball, baseball, flag or touch football, or the other dozen more typical ways to pass a weekend day, IMO. You ought to try it, you could use most if not all of your colt parts on an airsoft equivalent. For example, my ICS is a pound for pound, dimension for dimension replica of an actual M4. All of the real steel parts fit it. In fact I was at the recent gun and knife show over in westland shopping a cheekplate for it, and the dealers didn't know it wasn't real. You can't tell without tearing it down. So its not like you're running around with plastic toys or spaceguns (like those paintball thingamabobs with those giant ammo and air tanks on em, don't think I could warm up to that). Anyway - come out to one some time and I think you'd have fun. If you're interested - Here's a page that lists local events: http://www.airsoftevents.com The Op Irene main page: http://www.oplionclaws.com/irene/irene-home.php The Irene event is hosted by Colonel Dan McKnight and others at Fort Knox and costs about $100-$150 admission for a two day event, which is typical for the bigger national events, but the local events are usually only $10-$20 per. Yeah, the gear can be expensive... I'm not going to say how much I've spent just in my first season, but its more than the exhaust, chip, CAI and tune was to put on the caddy...ugh... but thats because I'm stupid and prefer to do support gunning. But nevermind that - you can get a really decent setup for under $300 and after that the cost is only for bbs. Which are way less expensive than paintball ammo. Couple pics of my gear: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-2/944597/gallery_9287_404_3915[1].jpg One of just the guns without the mess, this is a Classic Army M249 MkII, an ICS M4, a KJW M92 Elite ia, and a TM P90 TR: ...those are dummy rounds - display value http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-2/944597/DSC01060s.JPG And yeah, they all have a purpose The SAW is my typical weapon. I use the M4 as a field gun when support gunners aren't allowed. The P90 is for CQB, and the M92 elite ia is for when the SAW runs out of ammo. The box mag on the SAW holds 2,400 rounds. But I *have* run out in firefights. Aheh. My current record in one event I went thru almost 9,000 rounds... suppression at its finest. For me - its a good way to get a workout. With all my gear on, if I'm doing support gunning (using the SAW), I'm carrying an extra 70-80lbs around. With an all-day event, thats burning some serious calories. I've lost 7-10lbs in one event, even eating and hydrating well all day, and thats not water-weight loss. Here's one from Cold Toes over in Springfield in November. As you can see I'm taking a breather and its not even midafternoon yet, heh. But there's three others guys in this pic on my side so I can take a lazy moment (of course an event official catches me with a camera at it...). http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-2/944597/Hillslam_249.jpg Smack em, yak em! EDIT - fixed links

Thanks for the IMs guys. Nice to pop in and say hi too. Here's the vids I promised, whats been taking my time and $: Clips from Irene 3 (national event hosted at Ft Knox's MOUT site, Sept 05) http://www.blackeagleairsoft.net/video/irene3/OPI3-768k.wmv http://www.blackeagleairsoft.net/video/irene3/OPI3-2-high.mov http://www.blackeagleairsoft.net/video/irene3/OPI3-Clip1.wmv http://www.blackeagleairsoft.net/video/irene3/OPI3-Clip2.mov Clips from Distant Horizon (local event hosted at Hubbard Ohio, Nov 19th 05) http://www.blackeagleairsoft.net/video/distanthorizon/OPDH-768k.wmv http://www.airsoftevents.com/images/events/Distant_horizon/OPDH.mpg (I'm actually in that last one near the beginning for all of 2 seconds dragging my tired butt back to the town at the end of day - of course a firefight starts up...)

Wasn't me. I haven't been on the east side since Sept. And I just have a Corsa - not too loud over stock. Oh and I have the stock rims on for winter. I've counted two other black Vs in town though, and unfortunately one right by where I live. ugh.

Yeah. I've been into another hobby lately that takes as much of my time/money as making cars go vroom. Variety, and all that.